Consider reinventing your house. Remodeling includes all sorts of home improvement projects. Projects that change the characteristics of your house and make it suit your new life situation are more than a simple sprucing up and remodeling. I call this “reinventing” your house. Why not consider reinventing your family house into your retirement house?

Our families and our lives evolve. When you are raising your children, an upstairs master bedroom makes sense. You want to be near the kids in case they need you during the night. But when they leave home and you are getting older, those stairs don’t look as easy to climb several times a day. And you know that as more years go by, there is some chance that you may not be able to climb them at all. Many homes can be reinvented from a family house to a retirement house with the addition of a first floor master bedroom suite. It might take some clever planning and confirmation that there is enough room on your property to do it. An architect can help you with that.  But reinventing means you won’t have to spend all that money on commissions and moving costs. Instead, that money can go directly toward the cozy first floor master bedroom suite with the fancy new bathroom you’ve dreamed of.

Staying where you are and reinventing your house has many other benefits. If you like where you currently live, if you have great neighbors, familiar stores, doctors, and restaurants nearby, if your church is around the corner, and you live close to many of the things you like, why start over? Change your house into your retirement house and let those upstairs bedrooms simply become guest rooms for the children and grandchildren.

Remodeling  and reinventing can cause some turmoil. But selling a house, buying a new one, and moving can be an even bigger hassle. And with the construction industry being slow, construction costs are down.

Spend some time thinking of what your present house could be. Ask an architect for some ideas. He or she might see things you don’t. You might surprise yourself with the possibilities.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

I have designed many houses that included a sauna. It can be an important part of a complete home spa experience. The easiest way to build one is to buy one of the prefabricated units, such as those offered by Finlandia Sauna or Cedarbrook Sauna. These are easily assembled and can sit in the corner of an existing room. They are great to have in your exercise room or as part of a nice luxury bathroom.

If you want one that is more “built in,” you can still gain the benefits of a prefabricated unit by purchasing a pre-cut unit. Both of these options take the guess work out of the equation. The manufacturers recommend the sizes, depending on the number of people you want to accommodate. And the heater, stones, and light are included, too. Assembly is easy.

If you want your sauna to be more customized than the styles the kits will give you, building one from scratch is pretty simple. Just use the right wood, insulate it properly and then buy the heating unit that matches the size of your sauna. A good finish carpenter can do the job.

You usually think of saunas as being a closed box. But I once designed one with a window. The homeowner wanted to be able to look out at his terrific view. We made the window fairly small to control the heat, but positioned it so when he sat in the sauna the window was in the perfect position to capture the full view.

Home saunas are reasonably priced luxuries. Go ahead and pamper yourself.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

“Curious what you might recommend for a tall (10 ft) loft bathroom to make the room feel a bit less huge and uncomfortable. Unfortunately, I can’t frame down the ceiling because of a building sprinkler system.  Thanks! Steven”

In the years before air conditioning, especially in warmer climates, rooms often had high ceilings to let the heat rise and make the rooms feel more comfortable in the summer months. These days, high end houses often have high ceilings.

We often deal with the “too high” ceiling in small rooms by simply framing down a lower ceiling just in those spaces. But Steven can’t do that because of the sprinkler. So I suggested that he employ an architectural trick from days gone by.

Here was my suggestion to him. Install a cornice (a piece of crown molding with a solid top, like a plate rail) at the height you would like the ceiling to be. That might be eight foot high if the bathroom is not large. If there is any crown molding where the wall meets the ten foot high ceiling, remove that.

Then paint the wall color only up to the cornice. Paint the cornice the trim color. And paint the wall above the cornice and the ceiling all the ceiling color, presumably ceiling white. You will trick the eye into thinking the room stops at the cornice height because the top part of the wall will blend in with the ceiling. The room will magically feel better proportioned.

Let me know how this turns out.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

This soaking tub set in a secluded alcove gives a spa feel to this luxury bathroom

The bath is now the oasis, the place to retreat from the hectic world. soaking tubs are still there, altough more people claim they don’t have time to use them. But those people who do like them to be an experience. Reading, meditating, and just zoning out are the attraction. Plus spa tubs add to the look of the room, giving you the sensation of being somewhere you could relax, even if you don’t have the time right now.

I’m getting more requests for showers with no glass, no door and no curb. People have tired of cleaning the glass walls of a shower. They they love the look, but don’t like having to squeegee down the glass after they take a shower. Many people prefer having no glass except for the glass door. But even better, if you can make the shower area large enough, you can have a direct “walk in” arrangement with no door, at all. The entire shower can be tile or stone. The entrance area becomes a great place for towel bars and drying off. Having no curb is appealing to people, particularly if they anticipate aging in place and they don’t want to be forced to move out of their house if they ever lose mobility.

There is certainly a trend toward more shower heads, body sprays and rain head showers. These don’t help with water or energy conservation. But the trend is toward making your bathroom your own personal spa. If you opt for more water sources, be sure to have the mixing valves properly sized so the spray shoots out and doesn’t just dribble.

Air tubs are replacing water-jet whirlpools. This is because the air tubs let you use oils and bubbles without worrying about gumming up the plumbing. The motor for air tubs can be located in a remote location. This reduces the noise. Water-jet tubs can’t do that.

Heated tile or stone floors are more common. They are easy to install with electric powered mesh mats that are installed just beneath the tiles. They can operate on a timer so the floor is warm when you get up in the morning and then turn off later so you won’t have to remember to do it. Heated towel bars warm the spirit, too.

Lots of storage is critical. People need places for all of their things and they want them conveniently located. How many potions and appliances do you have? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a home for all of them, leaving you an uncluttered countertop?

A separate room for the toilet and/or bidet are standard for luxury baths. Sometimes there are even separate his and hers toilet areas.

Sit-down makeup vanities are much more common. Sometimes these are next to one of the sinks. But more and more these vanities get their own location, possibly even within the large master closet, provided the closet is more of a dressing room and not simply a place to hang clothes. It’s nice to provide a tiny sink at the makeup vanities so there is a water source.

Multiple types and levels of lighting are great. This lets you have one type and level of lighting for shaving and tooth brushing, but another level for relaxing in the soaking tub. And don’t forget about the light needed when it comes time to clean your spa/bathroom.

Regarding soaking tubs, there seems to be a trend toward deeper tubs that are smaller in footprint and not small swimming pools. It’s a philosophy similar to the tubs in a Japanese ofuro, except we don’t bath before entering the tub like they do. Still, the deeper tub allows full immersion in a slightly more upright position.

Privacy gardens are nice. This would be a garden visible only from the bathroom with a surrounding wall high enough to provide privacy without the use of window blinds or shades. This can give the bathroom a wonderful outdoor feel, even in climates that don’t permit outdoor living year-round. Sliding or patio doors can allow access from the bath to the privacy garden. And where the climate is right, the garden can even contain an outdoor shower, all in total seclusion and out of the view of the neighbors.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

It can cost a lot of money to sell a house and move. Realtor fees and moving expenses can cost as much as a total kitchen makeover. So why not save the real estate commissions and moving expenses which, once spent, are gone and can never be recovered. Instead, put the money into something you can use and enjoy, something tangible like a great new kitchen or a luxurious master bathroom.

Many people were saving money in their retirement accounts to use to build or buy their home retirement. Their current homes were good for raising children, but now that the children are gone, the upstairs master bedroom and other accessibility considerations make the house inappropriate for aging occupants. But retirement accounts have taken big hits. That loss of their assets combined with the decline in value of their current house has many people finding themselves unable to afford the retirement house they dreamed of. So instead of retiring to the house of their dreams, more and more people are remodeling their current houses to be the kind of house that works for them.

This can be done by adding a ground floor master bedroom suite to permit single level living, altering and enhancing master baths to allow handicapped access and added convenience, making alterations to remove other steps within the house or at the doors, and updating the house to include the conveniences and amenities people now want and need. Formal dining rooms can be converted into home offices or libraries and studies. Screened porches, patios, and outdoor kitchens can be added to change a home from a growing family type of house to a leisure living home. Even face-lift makeovers to change the appearance of the house and re-landscaping to reduce yard maintenance can be done.

There are other intangible benefits to remodeling beyond the financial and lifestyle benefits. Staying in the neighborhood where your doctors, banks, favorite stores, churches, clubs, and friends are can make staying put a lot more gratifying than pulling up stakes and relocating. If you don’t think your present house is good for your golden years, think again. You might have the nucleus of a wonderful leisure living house right beneath your feet.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

Tiles on shower ceilings are somewhat optional these days. They add cost, so often they are not done. But tiles on the ceiling are a step up in quality and make the ceiling easier to maintain. If you do not tile the ceiling, be sure to use moisture resistant drywall, sometimes called green board. It’s designed for use in damp locations. As you would imagine, steam will tend to cling to the shower ceiling, especially in the corners. If you have a nice gap at the top of the shower door to let the steam vent out, a drywall ceiling, properly painted should work fine.

If you are adding a steam unit to the shower, you will definitely need tiles on the ceiling. Otherwise you will grow mildew quickly and you will find yourself repairing the ceiling frequently. Steam showers need to be completely enclosed with no gaps around or at the top of the glass doors. If not, the shower will never steam up enough to do what you want it to do. One good tip for building a steam shower is to give the ceiling a bit of a slant. This will keep droplets of condensed steam from dripping on you. Although the steam was hot when it condensed on the ceiling, it will feel icy cold when it drips on you. Slightly sloping the ceiling will let the water run to the walls and down the walls without dropping on you.

Another tip on shower ceilings is to not make them too high. If your house has ten foot ceilings, consider dropping the shower ceiling to eight foot. This will help the shower warm up when you use it. If the ceiling is too high, it might create an uncomfortable cool draft.

Check the comment bar to tell us your story.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

But, there are places in Your Perfect House where a nine or ten foot ceiling might be too high. Small rooms, such as bathrooms might feel uncomfortable with a high ceiling. A ten foot high ceiling in a five foot by six foot powder room can make the space feel like an empty elevator shaft. Your dining room is a room I call a “sit down” room. When you are seated at a table, high ceilings can be just as uncomfortable as a ceiling that is too low. Frank Lloyd Wright used low ceilings to great effect, often enhancing the drama of nearby higher  through the contrast of heights from space to space. He used lower ceilings to create a sense of intimacy.

Obviously, the ceiling of one floor is the floor of the next one above, so it’s impractical to have the second floor step up and down just to create varied height ceilings on the first floor below. But there is nothing stopping you from framing down a lower ceiling in the spaces that can’t handle the height. Think about lowering the ceilings in bathrooms and powder rooms. Consider framing down the perimeter of your dining room to create a tray ceiling that defines the space where the table will sit. Tray ceilings can make a large bedroom feel more cozy.

And on a very practical note, think about framing down the shower ceilings to eight feet. This will make the shower warmer, since it will hold in the warm, moist air better while you are showering. It also will reduce the cost of tiling the walls all the way to the ceiling because there will be less wall to cover.

Click on the comment bar to tell us your story.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

    Most people don’t think about how their bathroom tile will be installed. They make their selections based on the color and style of the tile and what decorative tiles or accents are available and compatible with the primary tile. But not all tiles are available with bull-nosed edges or other special shapes you may need.

    A bull-nose edge is a slightly rounded over edge that has the finished surface of the tile wrapping all the way around the edge so that when it is adhered to the wall, nothing but a finished surface will be seen. Bull-nosed tiles are also needed when the tile must wrap around a corner, such as on a tub deck where the vertical front surface meets the horizontal top surface. Many tiles do not come with this accessory. In those cases, the edge of the tile will appear unfinished and possibly rough when installed. Some tiles, like porcelain tiles, can be rounded over and ground to be smooth by the tilesetter. This will prevent the tile from having rough edges, but many times the color of the body of the tile is not the same as the finished surface. In other words, the color you see on top does not run all the way though the tile. Other tiles, like ceramic tiles, can not be properly ground down to make a rough edge no matter how skillful your tilesetter may be.

    Depending on your particular installation, you may also need tiles that are finished on two edges to form an outside corner. Another problem presented by some tiles is when the tile can not be cut smoothly. On a recent project, we ended up with tiles where the finished surface tended to chip off when cut, no matter what method of cutting the tilesetter tried. Even when he ground down the edge, the rough, chipped edge still showed.

    I would suggest that you discuss the tile installation with your builder and the tile setter before you finalize you tile choice, just to be sure the final installation will match your expectations.

Click on the comment bar to tell us your story.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

    It is this slope that comes from several directions that makes using large tiles impractical. The floor is essentially “warped.” where the slope changes, the tile floor needs to approximate a curve. If you used large tiles, they could not be laid smoothly. Inevitably, some of the corners will end up sticking up. There is no tile setter in the world who can avoid this problem. It’s a simple matter of geometry.

    Tiles on shower floors should be no larger than 4″x4″. 2″x2″ or smaller is even better. Most tile styles will have a selection of small tiles you can choose from, thus keeping your color scheme intact. Smaller tiles will allow the tile setter to make your shower floor nice and smooth. Your feet will thank you for your forethought.

UPDATE – Patty asked this question:

Tile set on a sloping shower floor should usually be set with the edges at the wall level all around to give it the cleanest look.

It is best to set the floor tile so that the line where it meets the wall is level all the way around the shower. This will give the cleanest look. If the drain is in the exact middle of a square shower, the slope (degrees of pitch) toward the drain will be the same all the way around. In the example in this photgraph, the distance from the drain to the back and sides is about the same. So the slope on those sides is identical. However, the distance to the front edge from the drain is considerable more. But the drop to the drain (the amount the floor falls from the wall to the drain) is the same as the back and the sides. So the slope in the front must end up being less steep at the front.

Patty, you asked about a shower that was built in place of an existing tub. When you say that the drain had to remain in the same location it was in when the tub was there, this probably means that the drain is quite close to the wall. This can present a dilemma. If you try to keep the edges of the floor where it meets the wall level all around, the tiles on the very short side will end up tilted severely. I hope this isn’t what they did. The other alternative is to let the line where the floor meets the wall slope down towards the drain. this may not be as “clean” a look as usual, but it would look better than having severely tilted tiles at the wall the drain is very near.

I hope I explained this properly. If not, please let me know what is confusing. If I misunderstood your question, Patty, maybe you could send me a photo so I can understand it better.

Click on the comment bar to tell us your story.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.

    It seems that this report surfaces every ten years, or so. It has been promoted by the makers of competing countertop materials, like quartz products like Cambria or Silestone and solid surfaces like Corian. You can read and listen to the reports for yourself, but it seems to me that this is a Chicken Little issue that grabs the media’s attention and the stone countertop industry then has to spend lots of time and money de-bunking it.

    Personally, I think that the threat presented by radon, in general, is way over-blown. I have never seen a positive, scientific, statistical link between radon levels and actual cases of lung cancer. All I’ve seen is pure speculation and panic prospering propaganda. The literature tells you all of the risks and dangers radon poses without actually showing that any of these dangerous consequences have ever occurred. None of the literature even acknowledges the effects simple ventilation has on dispersing the gas. Radon occurs naturally in the soil and rocks and it comes into a house through the ground. It can not be stopped. Ventilation is the remedy for houses that contain too much radon. The amount of radon that a stone countertop “might” emit is a small fraction of what occurs naturally and opening a door to the kitchen will remove any accumulated radon gas.

    I think this is another example of irresponsible journalism, if you can call it journalism at all.

Click on the comment bar to tell us your story.

If you would like to read more articles about house and home design, please visit my other website, www.about-home-design.com.